Report To Reveal Sandusky Abuse Investigation

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — New details about the scope and pace of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation investigation were expected when the Pennsylvania attorney general released a report she promised while running for the office two years ago.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane brought in law school professor and former federal prosecutor Geoff Moulton to review how police and prosecutors responded after authorities fielded a complaint about the former Penn State assistant football coach in late 2008.

The report being released on Monday has political implications because the attorney general’s office got involved in early 2009, when Tom Corbett held the job Kane now has. Corbett, a Republican, was elected governor in 2010 and is currently seeking another term. Kane is the first elected Democrat to serve as the state’s top prosecutor.

It took nearly three years for charges to be filed against Sandusky. He was convicted two years ago of sexual abuse of 10 boys and is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence in a maximum security prison.

As a candidate in 2012, Kane said that Corbett may have had a political motive to slow down the investigation, an assertion Corbett has denied. The arrest of Sandusky led to the firing of longtime Penn State coach Joe Paterno while Corbett was serving as a university trustee; Penn State alumni and fans have objected to how Paterno was treated.

Corbett has said the case was handled properly, noting that investigators needed time to develop sometimes reluctant witnesses and that Sandusky was convicted. Eight victims testified at trial about a range of abusive behavior, from grooming to violent attacks.

Penn State eventually accepted a set of penalties from the NCAA over its handling of the matter, including a four-year bowl ban, a temporary reduction in football scholarships, the loss of 112 wins from Paterno’s later years and a $60 million fine.

Paterno died of lung cancer a few months after Sandusky was arrested in November 2011. At the time, prosecutors also charged two now retired university administrators with a criminal cover-up of the scandal.

Those two — former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz — await trial in Harrisburg, along with former school president Graham Spanier, who was subsequently charged in the alleged cover-up. No trial date has been set; all three men deny the allegations.